I'm not a lord

Chapter 18 Peat and Salt
After the sun sets, the forest begins to become restless again.

A large group of elk galloped past the bushes where Lynn was hiding, each elk putting its head against the tail of the one before it, and the dead branches made a crackling sound under their hooves.

Under cover of darkness, the elk headed toward the swamp, where there was a valuable source of water.

Then a herd of wild boars of varying sizes came scurrying and snorting onto the meadow, apparently having smelled the sweet aroma of honey.

When the two little wild boars found the honey smeared on the tree trunk and howled excitedly, Lynn and the second one suddenly stood up, drew their bows and shot.

The arrows flew out like thunder, hitting the two little wild boars right in the head. They fell down and died on the spot.

The remaining wild boars did not flee in all directions. A curious little wild boar even ran to the body of its companion and sniffed it.

It was not until Lin En and Lao Er walked out of the bushes that the group of wild boars, who had never experienced the beatings of the terrifying upright ape, dispersed.

"There's quite a lot of prey in this forest. It seems the serfs in White Bear's territory are really honest and don't poach."

Lin En glanced at the [Hunting Experience +1] floating on the panel and lifted the wild boar's hind legs with a smile.

At this time, the lord naturally owned all the forests in the territory.

If serfs dared to enter the forest to hunt without permission, they would be fined at best and whipped to death at worst.

There were many reasons for prohibiting serfs from hunting, one of which was to protect the wildlife resources in the forest.

To be more precise, it is for the skin of the animal.

According to the list in Lin En's hand, in the past ten years, White Bear Territory has been able to export five to six hundred pieces of animal fur every year, mainly deerskin, fox fur and a small amount of mink fur.

As for the money he earned, it was not much, usually only twenty or thirty gold coins a year, which was enough to buy a complete set of mail armor, helmet and longsword, or one-third of a high-quality warhorse.

It may not seem like much, but for the former White Bear Lord Baron, this extra income was extremely important.

According to the current grain purchase price in the North, the total annual output value of the more than 30,000 acres of public land in the entire White Bear Territory will not exceed 500 gold coins.

These five hundred gold coins had to be used to support the baron's family, five knight families, more than twenty knight squires and their families, which was barely enough to cover necessary expenses.

Without these twenty or thirty gold coins from selling furs, the Baron family's living standards would instantly drop a level.

The transparent glass windows are gone, replaced by windows made of pig bladders; the colorful woolen coats are gone, and only gray animal fur can be worn; the Baroness's cosmetics are naturally gone, and can only be replaced by free North Wind Snow.
However, none of this matters to Lynn.

As he feasted on the sizzling wild boar leg, he was thinking about how to build a road in the forest.

Discovering mineral deposits is one thing; getting them out of the forest is another.

If we don’t build roads, it will be useless to discover any number of mines.

As for the destruction of forests due to road construction and mining, Lin En didn't care at all.

In the White Bear Territory, the forest area may not be 90%, but it is at least 80%.

He didn't care about the little profit from the fur business at all. If he needed to rely on that money to improve his life, then there was no need for him to continue being a lord.

While thinking, Lin En subconsciously asked, "Second Brother, how many serfs do you think we need to mobilize to build a road that runs through the entire forest?"

The second brother, who was concentrating on a piece of pork ribs, couldn't help but laugh when he heard this: "Brother, how can I answer this question? The most I can do is wave the whip and help you supervise the serfs to work."

"That's right." Lin En couldn't help but laugh.

Night falls on the forest, and the warm campfire drives away the cold and wild beasts.

After a simple meal of wild game, the exploration team, who had been busy all day, quickly fell asleep in the tent.

The next morning, the group boiled some water, ate some dry food and ham, and set off again.

On the afternoon of the second day, after the exploration team had traveled nearly twenty kilometers north into the forest, a resource point finally appeared on Lin's pixel map. Before them lay a vast, endless swamp.

"found it."

Lin En stood on the grass at the edge of the swamp and looked into the distance. Most of the ice and snow covering the swamp had melted, and large areas of withered yellow reeds could be seen.

"Brother, is this the swamp we are looking for?" The second brother narrowed his eyes, puzzled.

"No, what we are looking for is right under our feet." Lynn lowered his head and looked at the soft grass beneath their feet.

"Under your feet?" The second brother stomped his legs, but didn't feel anything unusual.

"Bring a shovel."

At Lin En's command, a younger brother immediately took the shovel from the horse's back.

He took the shovel and dug up the soft grass on the spot.

After digging about twenty centimeters down, the soil gradually transitioned from dark yellow to dark brown.

Under the puzzled gaze of the second brother, Lin En leaned over and grabbed a handful of dark brown soil, put it to his nose and sniffed it gently. There was a faint sour and rotten smell, like rotten straw.

The second child asked curiously: "Brother, what is this?"

"This is peat." Lynn threw the shovel to his younger brother and brushed off the dirt on his hands.

"peat?"

"Remember the compost I made two days ago?"

"Remember, you also said that composting can increase farmland yields."

"The effect of peat is similar to that of compost and can replace it. After drying, it can be used as charcoal, and its heating effect is even better than charcoal."

As he spoke, Lin En cast his gaze towards the west. Extending all the way west from where he was currently, the edge of this swamp contained a huge amount of peat.

If we only supply the 3,000 or so people led by Bai Xiong, it might take thousands of years to finish mining.

"I see. This is what we're looking for. Old Albert said earlier that the compost wasn't enough. Hey, if he were here, he'd probably want to bury me in the ground."

Although the second brother doesn't know how to farm, he understands Lin En very well.

Seeing the boss's smile, he knew that the peat must be a good thing.

Although he discovered an astonishing amount of peat reserves, Lynn was not satisfied.

Instead of returning the same way, he continued exploring westward along the swamp.

Thirty years ago, the Duke of Swamp's army went north along the White River to hunt down the deserters. If there were any mineral deposits along the way, they would have been discovered long ago.

His next route will be completely away from Baihe, with more risks along the way and a higher chance of finding mineral deposits.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the exploration team had walked out of the swamp. The scenery along the way was no longer just forest or swamp, but a series of small hills.

At this time, the map prompted Linn that there was a new resource point not far to the left.

It didn't take him long to find the seemingly unremarkable low hill.

This small hill, about fifty or sixty meters high, is bare and slightly pointed, with no vegetation covering the surface.

(End of this chapter)